These past few weeks have been very time-intensive – we did like ten days of fourteen hour days (Do Not Want!) and many of our emails have gone. It’s mostly my fault. I meant to answer and then stuff happens. There were a couple of writing advice that I can’t find now. We’re off this week, so if you would like to ask a writing question, on the process or publishing or just want to know how to do a specific thing, now is your chance to ask it. 
You can comment or email, but if you choose to send an email, please put WRITING in the subject, so I will know what it’s for.
PS. You may not like the answer. I’m sorry in advance.
Well, I’d like to give writing advice TO YOU
:
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Do not forget the work-life balance and relax from time to time (I know, easier said than done). We would like you to be healthy and in the best mood, so nothing can hamper you creativity.
I loved your grocery list, by the way. Mine is never so organized and I have never even thought about organizing it
Have a nice day
A week off sounds nice. Playing any fun new games?
Um… I am really mad because we can’t play Neverwinter MMO. So… um… I’m planting pretty flower on a magic farm. Has my coolness card been revoked?
PS. We got a new personal trainer. Everything hurts.
Nope. My siblings and I used to be avid gardeners in Wizard 101, until Dad got annoyed with us for “taking time to water imaginary flowers that don’t exist,” mostly because we tended to give the watering of said flowers priority over everything else, especially our chores and such. after that, we mostly stopped because he had a point, and he is our Dad. With this sort of thing, disobedience is not an option.
Your coolness card is safe.
I’ve done my fair share of virtual farming, virtual dragon breeding, and virtual building management. I’m sure one day these skills will prove to be extremely useful and all that practice time will come in handy…
My 14-year-old son sucked my husband and me into playing Xbox 360 Minecraft. *facepalm*
Being a non-writer, I have a lot of questions, but it is mostly just curiosity. I love to read about your processes and the why you do things a certain way. If there was one quirky thing you do while writing that you guess most others don’t, what would it be? Or one critical thing that you do now that you wish you would have known when you started?
Well, I have a couple. How long does it normally take you to write a book, and then after, how much time is spent changing/editing things yourself before other people even see it?
Also, how does your brainstorming/creative process work when you’re coming up with new ideas and spinning whole worlds out of nowhere?
p.s. get some rest for goodness sake!
Most authors seem to pop 1 book, for a series, per year. Vern managed ~1-2 a year by writing almost all the time.
For someone looking into getting published, how would you recommend getting an agent and/or an editor, and which is more important? I know you have posted an answer to a similar question before, as I remember reading it, but for the life of me, I can’t find it as the keyword search for this website doesn’t work well with my thought process.
Have fun on your week off!!!
Re: PS.: Since your previous responses to writing questions haven’t been nasty or along the lines of “You suck, you beepity beep beep beep”, and you are actually trying to be realistic and help us, I don’t mind if your answer isn’t what I wanted to hear.
Do you ever change how a story will play out because of what your fans want?
The reason behind my question is that I recently read, on an authors blog, that they would not be writing the final book in a series. The reason they gave was that they had envisioned the ending many years ago, and because they now know the fans will not like it, they can’t write a book people will end up hating.
That seems very sad to me. Could u pass along the blog you read? I recently read a book where a very much loved character died. I admit I kept wondering why?!? Why?!?!. Sometimes death & sacrifice can seem to be a horrible ending. But I think I would rather read the final book in a trilogy regardless of how the ending might piss me off than never know the author’s full story. I remember watching the film London Boulevard & being totally pissed at the ending. Then I just decided that if I wanted my happily ever after I could just strike the scene and envision my own. Or I could also see that the violence that struck the dark hero down did not negate his purpose. P.S. is it ok to discuss other authors in your blog? I don’t want to offend. I used a film example in my comment rather than a literary one xx
Why “xx” instead of “xoxo”?
Oh wait, never mind. I got the x and the o flip-floped in my head until I actually wrote it down.
Hmmm… it’s kind of a multilayered thing. Xandra Black is an avatar/pseudonym/ hopeful DBA. My last name is very distinct. Years ago, I met quite a few people thru internet dating. Many became great friends & I met people I defintely wouln’t have met otherwise. This was also when internet dating was fairly new (facebook did not yet exist) Part of the name Xandra Black was a safety measure. My physical address could not be discovered by any that I did not want by those who did not know my very long very italian last name. Also, I only gave out my mobile # because landlines can be used to do an address lookup. Xandra Black is also due to the hopeful DBA a marketing/branding thing. I am at heart a social entrepreneur and although the ideas & hopes I have are not realized my journey is ongoing. xx is a signature and possibly a label (xoxo is already taken) It comes from many things, x for xandra and another x because I don’t have a middle name. It’s also a sign for affection as well as a greeting/goodbye that I use especially with my French aunt, and also was part of the cultural immersion I had when I spent a semester abroad in Florence during college. A place where my looks were the cultural norm. And I discovered what it meant to be an American. xx is in no way representative of a superficial double air kiss or some sort of pseudo-european affectation. It is a written expression of the personal experiences I have had and the good will I extend to people from all walks of life. As I said it is multilayered. I will now end my rambling as I know this post is uber long xx
Two things:
First, that is way more in depth than I was asking for, but I can see myself doing the same thing at some point in the future with the right question.
Second, I think this is the longest comment I have seen on this blog, including the innkeeper comments, with the possible exception of Ilona’s grocery list, which still boggles the mind.
Bloody hell. I’m such a stream of conscious rambler. Apologies xx.
No apologies necessary. Just for clarity’s sake, the mind boggle comment was directed towards the grocery list, not your rambling.
The author is Amanda Hocking, she started off as a self published author. Her first series I believe is still considered self published. My blood approves.
What are you referring to when you say “My blood approves”?
Sorry, that’s the series name / first book in the series.
Oh good. I had a feeling you might have been referring to the fact that your icon has vampire teeth in a very roundabout way for some odd reason. I know it doesn’t quite make sense, but that is just how my brain works.
I don’t know if we can. If we don’t get a yes or no answer, I’ll post it next time I’m on here and worse case they can delete it. Or I think that’s the worst case.
I agree with wanting to know the ending, no matter the outcome. Though I hate to waste money on a book I wish I could throw across the room over, I feel I’ve already invested money into the series with no ending.
The discussion is perfectly fine as long as it doesn’t go into bashing territory.
I’ve always wanted to know how you cultivate the voices of your male characters. When Curran talks I imagine it’s Gordon; when Kate talks I see you. These characters are very consistent. I also noticed this consistency for Ghastek and Saiman. They are very distinct to me, and they never cross over to a new voice/mindset/whatever. Are they based on actual people?
Yes, this. How do you keep the voices straight and consistent? I mean, after a few books, they are probably easier to maintain, but in the beginning how do you do it? Base them off of people you know? Yourself?
What do you look for in a beta reader? Do you have suggestions for trying to become one? You guys should treat yourself to massages. Get someone to work all the stress and tension out of your bodies & minds. It may seem like an extravagance, but I can assure you that it will both relax and energize you. Work out the kinks from all those 14 hour days. A good masseuse can do wonders. I truly hope you consider it. xx
Uhh I wanted to ask about the Magic Bites Special Edition giveaway? Is it still going on?
Ditto.
This isn’t a writing-specific question, but I’ve been curious about it for ages, so I might as well ask it now — when you wrote Magic Bleeds, did you come up with the plot first and then did the research to come up with an appropriate antagonist, or did you discover the Poem of Erra first and then wrote the plot around that?
Do you ever use researchers? xx
I asked a Q on twitter.
Awaiting your reply. 
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Out of curiosity, how do you get to set your icon to something other than the default shape-face-thingys?
ah, I’m not sure, but I think it’s cuz it’s my blog icon via my website. It goes by my email. I think.
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I’ve always wondered about this. Mine looks like a seasick triangle. Though honestly, I am starting to get fond of it.
Yes, I’d say that describes it very well.
As for liking one’s blog icon, the very first time I posted, I was glad that my circle fit me so well. Actually, I think it fits me better than anything I would have picked for myself.
I think you need to get a Gravatar (https://en.gravatar.com/). There may be other methods but this is the one I know of.
Is there a way to do this without being limited to lowercase letters and numbers with no spaces for your username with Gravatar? I really like the username I have here, but it isn’t permitted by their username rules.
Never mind, I figured it out. The username is for login purposes on their website, not a mandatory username for all of your sites. It determines which Gravatar to use by the e-mail address that you give them with all of your other account info.
Now that I have a Gravatar account, I could change my Gravatar, but I decided to stick with my ironic yet goofy circle. It suits me better than anything else I can think of.
Setup an account at Gravatar. Post here using the same email address you used to set up the Gravatar account.
Oops. Sorry, I didn’t see that the question was already answered.
Do you have a favorite source for researching myths and supernatural beings?
How’s your process of outlining a novel balancing worldbuilding and the settling of the scenes with the story unrolling? Urban fantasy often envolves crime and mystery; do you starts from the resolution of the crime and then creates the way through the character gonna cross to solve it? Do you have any list of creatures you wanna put in the story or you put them, not in a planned way, while you’re writing the book?
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I am suffering from one of those nasty upper resiratory bugs. Sunday, in a bout of febrile dementia, I decided I wanted to read Magic Bites for the umpteenth time. Dementia because it is impossible to read just one Kate. So I am on Magic Bleeds, and the acknowledgements reminded
me of the ‘furor’ over sex in your books. I do not understand why sex is considered an important element of urban fantasy. Many UF authors do not have explicit/hot sex scenes, and do not seem to be called to task. Why was it a problem for your books?
The acknowledgements were a joke. They referred to Jeaniene Frost and Jill Myles reading the draft of Magic Strikes and then sending me emails that said, “OMG, I can’t believe you had Derek walk in on them! That was mean! You are mean!” People made it out much more than it was.
And I just reread the ‘infamous’ sex scene, and it is tastefully done, but nicely erotic, and appropriate for the story.
JK Rowling had the idea for the Harry Potter series plotted out during a train ride. Did you have the Kate books plotted out, I.e., know in general terms what was going to happen in each book, back when you were contracted for 7? If yes, how did the addition of 3 more volumes affect your general plotting?
Also, I’ve asked this before but was not answered, Ilona, how does having English as your second language affect your writing, if at all?
THANKS!
I want to know about writing with your second language, too. I know I have pretty much to learn about English yet, but my dream is writing books in English because even Brazilian publishing industry been relatively good, we don’t have much professional writers. If you want to become a writer you need to have a side job too or you’ll starve. I’ll start studying screenwriting, but even so, if I write my screenplays in English I got more chances to become a known writer than if I stay stuck to Portuguese. Almost everybody knows English, nobody knows Portuguese.
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How much of a book should you have completed before you try submitting it to an agent or editor? This is specifically for people who have not been published before. Also, what do you advise as far as the best ways to get honest feedback? I recall you advised one writer not to let people read their rough draft before they finished it (they got very discouraged because their first chapter was criticized and quit writing).
Where do you do your research? I like that one book had Celtic cauldrons, one had Jewish golems, and one had Russian forest imps. And the Babalonian themes running through everwhere, that’s just -family.- Ouch.
Do you find interesting folk lore and build a story around it, or find folklore to support your plot?
And where did the golem centaurs come from? I never heard of them (except for Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, and I thought he made it up ™)
So many questions, I hope you have time to answer them.
Inspiration
I don’t know if this question has been responded to before, but as I read (and reread) my Kate Daniels novels, I often wonder:
How did you both come up with Kate and her world? What inspired you? Or what sparked the initial idea?
And what advice could you give other hopeful, budding authors?
Thanks!
What’s the best way to learn how to write a publishable book? Books on writing, schooling, practice, writing/critique groups, etc.?
Also, when it comes to signing a contract with a publisher, should I hire a literary lawyer to go over it first?
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Lots of interesting questions up here. Hope to see many of them get answered (even much later).